I’ve no idea how to say this other than just saying it:

On Sunday, during a game of football, Craig collapsed and died.

He was 23.

It really does go without saying that everybody at Butler Sheetmetal sends their deepest and heartfelt sympathies to Craig’s Mum and Dad, Carole and Barry.

If memory serves me right, Craig had been with us for around two years and right from the off he was part of the fixtures and fittings. You don’t just get away with turning up and doing your job in a quiet corner, you have no choice but to get on with everybody. And Craig managed that with ease.

Yes, he was a bit of a cocky bugger, but he was never arrogant with it. He was also a bit of a cheeky swine but a winning smile can work wonders. You could never fail to be impressed by his confidence, enthusiasm and eagerness to learn and get on with the job. And, it must be said, one of the first things he learnt how to do was cannily keep the change on a chippy run.

It took John a while to find the right guy in Craig and he never once regretted setting him on. And neither did anybody else. He was equally at home having the piss taken out of him as he was to take the piss in the first place. Or, in local newspaper-speak: ‘he was a bit of a practical joker that always saw the funny side.’

But, Craig was infinitely more than just a work colleague. What used to happen on his and Jasper’s night-time fishing excursions is anyone’s guess, but they used to go on a few of them. I also don’t know whether it was Jasper who influenced Craig’s tale-telling (in)ability. Give the lad more than a couple of pints and he’d soon be waffling through some byzantine rant without beginning, middle or end.

But, he was 23.

The only thing I know with any certainty is that nobody can find the words to express how much Craig meant to everybody on a personal and professional level.

As with all things like this it’s just stutterings of incredulity, despondency, cliche and raw emotion.

And it will be for quite a while.

[More in the Colne Times]
[Book of Condolence]

Happy New Year lads and lasses.

Is it a sign of being something of a joyless old gimmer when you see in the New Year sober with some Cherry Garcia and a can of herbal iced tea? (Just typing it makes me realise how gay I sound!) But, we had been on something of a bender the night previously and Steph isn’t renowned for her ability to consume booze two days on the bounce. (If in doubt, blame the wife. )

Anyway, probably best to do that reflections-on-a-year-just-gone cobblers that we’re all prone to do round this here time.

BUTLER SHEETMETAL LTD
2006 was the year of ‘full capacity’. Not only was it ‘all hands to the pump’ but ‘more hands to the pump’. It’s fairly safe to say that last year was the busiest since time began and the addition of another fully skilled tinbasher in John and matt’s cousin Phil meant a slight change of emphasis on who does what and when. John now has more time to deal with clients and Matt has more time to price jobs. Everything is all that more efficient and reactions times are all that much faster. If only we could work on Craig’s inability to quaff ale without ending up in a police cell sans mobile phone. Will 2007 be a year of expansion, consoliditaion or anal retention?

TINPOT ALLEY
For a little sideline that promotes Butler Sheetmetal’s more creative side, Tinpot Alley has managed to establish itself quite nicely in 2006. We’ve managed the transition from an all-conquering uberlord of all things stainless steel planter related to a custom fabrication solution fairly easily. Not that it was a planned transition, mind you. It was simply one of those things that evolved from customer requirements. I’ve also managed to find some suitable fabricators over this side of the pond – in fact, I’ve had offers from fabricators from Canada to Mexico and most of the states inbetween. Given the appropriate attention, I have a feeling in my water that 2007 could be a good year.

PERSONALLY
2006 was the year I finally emigrated to America. Do be careful what you wish for.

BLOGGING
2006 was the year I ceased to give a crap about blogging as a phenomenon. I’ve had my fill of meddling marketers, jumped-up journos and flaky consultants getting themselves embrolied in teacup storms over bugger all and complaining about blogging being a bit of a lonely profession. I’ll happily concede that Butler Sheetmetal’s growth has been due to its online presence and that blogging drives that online presence, but, from a business overview, it’s nothing but a cog in a machine. I’ve whored myself out been asked to consult on a few projects for others this past year and it’s something I really don’t see myself doing more of in 2007. I know The Tinbasher has been worse for my attentions elsewhere and I’m just going to stick to what I know, so to speak. After all, I do have a responsibilty to ensure that business keeps rolling in.

Then again, if the money’s right.

I have to say that I don’t think I’ve ever seen Butler Sheetmetal quite as busy as this past couple of weeks during a brief trip back.

Matt had half the workshop taken up fabricating a rather large Moroccan-style seating arrangement, John was piling up stainless steel morgue tables like nobody’s business and Jasper and Craig had been sent down to London town to fit some stainless steel doors at some swanky bar a cough and a spit away from Lizzie’s pad.

Oh, and Phil was nibbling his notcher or notching his nibbler.

There was mild panic amongst the ranks as Jasper realised somebody had forgotten some brackets and that they had to be with him before 10pm that same evening. In true Butler Sheetmetal style, it was deceided to send me rather than spend an extortionate amount on a courier.

I really should know better.

It’s probably best not to linger on how the directions were slightly skewiff, or that everybody was asleep when I tried calling as they’d been up for most of the previous night and part of the morning and were trying to catch up with a bit of kip before thay started again that evening. It’s also best to ignore the fact that I didn’t return home until 4am as the M1 and M6 had both been closed at certain junctions for necessary roadworks.

But, if I was feeling a tad peeved then I’m sure you can sympathise with Craig and Jasper who couldn’t fit a carrot once they got round to it as the job hadn’t been measured correctly in the first place (not our fault btw). Subsequently, everything that had been fabricated was out of kilter and required adjusting.

Still, it doesn’t quite beat the time Jasper went down to London to fit a job and forgot to pack any underpants. A couple of days into the job and John received a phonecall from Jasper the Jock asking if John could send him some down.

Of course he could……what size?

Well the move went rather smoothly I think. Other than my hibernating Tinpot Alley Blog performing some kind of database brain fart you’d never notice I’d changed servers – other than the fact that sites aren’t down for half the day and everything’s much quicker to load (please tell me it loads quicker….).

The one thing I’m currently trying to get my head round is email. Especially spam email.

It’s not just the usual crap that we all get, it’s also spoofed stuff being sent from butlersheetmetal.com and tinpotalley.co.uk.

Now I’ve set up all the boxtrappers and spamassassins and thrown everything down various blackholes, but it seems that spamming from your domain is something else entirely. Googling the problem leads you to but one solution: The Sender Policy framework.

SPF fights return-path address forgery and makes it easier to identify spoofs. Domain owners identify sending mail servers in DNS. SMTP receivers verify the envelope sender address against this information, and can distinguish authentic messages from forgeries before any message data is transmitted.

Yes, it’s all a bit too much for me on a Monday, too, and is only something you need to get your head round if you have your own server. Or that’s what I think I can gather. I don’t think you have to waste your time with this kinda thing otherwise.

I’ve also added the plugin email immunizer to stop undesirables harversting email addresses from this blog.

It’s probably all a bit after the horse has bolted but I really don’t like the idea of people being spammed from butlersheetmetal.com and tinpotalley.com.

I apologise for not having implemented something before it happened.

If there’s anybody with a bit more nous about this, please feel free to share in the comments.

BSM – like some kind of sheet metal mafia, but not remotely hard.

You advertise globally via the medium of blog for a new sheet metal worker, find your inbox stuffed with all manner of bizarre pleas from all and sundry and who do Matt and John plump for?

Their cousin, Phil.

Now don’t get me wrong, there is certainly no nepotism at play as I’ve been told from one or two sources that Phil is one hell of a sheet metal worker. It had to be somebody darned good to allow John the freedom to be more hands on with the customers as opposed to his tools (hmmmm, that sounds a tad dubious).

So, at the moment, the workforce stands with the brothers Matt and John Butler who own the whole affair, Deborah, their sister, who happens to be the secretary, myself, John’s brother-in-law and their cousin, Phil. They’ve worked with Jasper since Adam were a lad and they’re currently in dispute over who should adopt Craig – trust me, it’s no tug of love.

So, if you do fancy sending us your C.V., you might be well advised to check out your family tree first.

If you can blag a Butler bloodline then you’re hired.